Published on: October 11, 2023

Pallium India, in collaboration with National Health Mission (NHM), Maharashtra, organised a webinar on palliative care, on 6th October, 2023. 300 participants joined from all districts of Maharashtra, including State NHM Officials, NCD Officials, Medical officers, Taluka Health Officers, Community Health Officers, Health & Wellness centre members, Telemedicine team members and others.

The event started with a presentation by Dr Rutula Sonwane (Bharti Hospital, Pune) on “Introduction to Palliative Care” followed by a very interactive discussion. This session was in Marathi.

The next session was by Dr Deepak Sudhakaran (Palliative Care Physician & Community Medicine Specialist, Head – Social Works Division, Pallium India) who presented about the “Kerala Model of Palliative care”, which was also followed by Q & A.

Finally, Pallium India’s Regional Facilitator Ms Sunanda Samal spoke about the mission and activities of Pallium India, with focus on the role of Facilitation team.

Later there was an open discussion session where some doctors shared their experiences, including Dr Dnyanprasad Jadhav who is currently the 2^nd M.O of Potra PHC of Hingoli District. He has completed his Foundation course in Palliative Medicine (FCPM) from Pallium India.

It was quite encouraging to observe so much enthusiasm and interest among the participants about palliative care.

Most of the questions that came up during the Q&A session were related to dealing with different types of palliative care patients, about opioids availability in the district hospitals in some districts and also about training options in Pallium India.

As a closing session, all were requested to organise awareness sessions in their respective districts on the occasion of World Hospice & Palliative care day, which falls on Saturday, 14th October this year.

(Report prepared by Ms Sunanda Samal, Regional Facilitator – Central, Pallium India.)